The breakfast hall was abuzz with sound-it was usual,but something felt....off.

Lina waved at them,gesturing for them to sit with her.olivia smiled,trotting to the table.lucia followed suit.as soon as they sat,lina leaned in with a gleam in her eyes.

"Did you hear?the soliders actually managed to capture a noxidian!"lina exclaimed.

Ah.

So that was the reason for the buzz.lucia's thoughts drifted to the noxidians.

They lived in noxida,and looked like humans-but they weren't humans.they served only one king-Death,and some of them had horns.some had tails.they all used nox.which made them extremely hard to capture alive,since they needed to ensure securing them before the noxidians decided to use the nox to the air,to the soil around them.she remembered the first time she saw one.brown-skinned,white marking on its-his skin.golden eyes.then killed right before her eyes,the golden coated weapon piercing right into his heart.

She hated the color gold since then.

"...lucia.lucia!"

"...h-huh?"her attention snapped to her friends.her kind friends,who understood she tended to zone out sometimes,that she tended to play with her strings more than others.

Her kind,utterly fanatic friends with vita necklaces around their necks.she smiled.

"Sorry,got lost there.what were you saying?"

Olivia sighed theatrically."lina said,the captured noxidian is utterly handsome!with pale white skin,and long black hair...."she sighed dreamily."...wish i could meet it,doesn't it sound like a fallen angel?"lina and olivia giggled.lucia laughed too,but hers felt hollow.she frowned as she reviewed the words.pale skin?but...all the noxidians she had seen were brown-skinned.or black.white was...unheard of.she braced herself as the Warden,a women with a neat gray bun,and stern features,walked over to their table.she nodded at lucia.

"Miss lucia,you are requested for...additional training with the Operatives.please report yourself after breakfast."lucia nodded.the warden walked away.

"Awww,you're gonna miss those utterly boring classes....again!"olivia groaned with envy.lina nodded too,glaring playfully at lucia.she smiled.

She wasn't requested for additional training.she was requested for something else.something that made her wish she could sit in the classroom and hear the teacher drone on about human anatomy.but they had no idea.oh well.her smile widened.

"...well,at least you guys might have a chance of seeing that noxidian again!"she said,playfully smirking.it was a blatant lie.but it worked.they all burst into laughter.

30 minutes later.

She waved her friends goodbye,and after seeing them enter the learning quarters,headed to the other side of the building.she looked around.

No one in sight.she slipped into a small,nondescript door nestled to the wall,hidden behind a thick bunch of ivy.she closed the door behind her.a long stairway headed downwards.she sighed,and walked.down and down and down.

The stairway ended to a metal door.she braced herself,taking a deep breath to calm her nerves.it didn't help at all.she opened the door.

"Healer lucia reporting."she said,closing the door behind her.it was a small room,the smell of blood and fire filling her senses.operative garcia nodded.operative damien cheerfully waved his hand at her.she smally smiled.her gaze flickered to the chair in the center of the room.

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There he was.the captured noxidian.his chest was bare,marred with cuts and bruises.his breath came in shallow gasps.he seemed conscious,but utterly in pain.she looked away.

"You guys weren't careful yesterday,the whole school is talking about it,you know..."she murmured,preparing.golden strands of light danced around her fingertips.garcia,annoyed,shoved the noxidian.he gasped,groaning.his wrists,strapped to the chair with pulsing vita shackles,jerked.

"I know,but this bastard decided to make the loudest noise,when we just.arrived.to the school!ugh-"garcia scoffed,then turned to lucia.

"We need three bottles this time.don't bother with healing it-it doesn't deserve it."she stormed outside.damien sighed theatrically,and clapped lucia on the shoulder.leaving her alone with the noxidian.the door closed behind them.her gaze flickered to him.

Despite the firm belief the priests installed to the soliders and healers,that acquiring noxidians alive were hard,captured noxidians were increasing.thanks to her.the priests had found out if collected directly from the noxidian's body,by using vita strings-they could study nox.study how it worked.infuse nox with vita strings,making weapons out of it.and she was the only one who had enough strings within her body,and the only one who could control it delicately enough to collect it.she sighed.

She hated it anyway.

Sure,studying those nox made them more closer to 'winning'.the operatives,now armed with eroded nox-nox infused with vita strings,that attacked the noxidians from within-killed and captured the noxidians more effortlessly.quickly.the soliders were clumsy,mere human shields compared to the effective work the operatives were undergoing.

But using eroded nox as their weapon meant they needed an endless supply of undiluted nox itself.

She had once tried,when she was young.she couldn't understand why she had those vita pulsing within her body. So she had tried pulling it out-and fainted instantly.

The process was agonizing.utterly painful.

She saw and heard enough to know it felt the same for them too.most went mad from the pain.or died.

She sighed.

"Well,hello-are you awake?"she said to him,checking the bottles.gods,it seemed larger then before-

"A pretty bluebird.how quaint."

Her head snapped to him.her breath hitched.

It was like lina said-he was handsome.utterly pale skin,and cold features that seemed sculpted.taut muscles packed inside a lean frame.long black hair,that flowed to his waist.and oh,the eyes.

Red.No,scarlet.utterly.like fire burning in the deepest pits of hell.she shivered.he quirked an eyebrow,twitching his wrists.

"Hmm,you seem quite frightened of me,even when i'm helplessly bound,and at your mercy.strange,are you not one of those pathetic soliders?"he drawled,leaning to the chair.despite the bruises and cuts marring his body,he seemed to be...relaxed.maybe he couldn't feel the pain.lucia looked away.

"....this is going to hurt.perhaps you should need me to gag you,so that you won't bit your tongue."she murmured,looking away.

She gasped as he laughed-a low melodious sound,almost as if she was the one strapped to the chair,not him."....what are you going to do?"he asked,almost with a detached curiosity.

"....i'm not supposed to tell you."she said flatly,preparing herself.the strings began to hum.he watched,then understanding dawned on his face.

".....ah.So that's why there has been an increase on captured noxidians.using nox to capture noxidians.doesn't your precious vita teach you not to handle nox?"he drawled,quirking an eyebrow.she looked away.

".....i'm going to begin.brace yourself."she muttered,then began.the strings inserted into his arm,creating a thin tube.she jerked it-and black nox began to flow from the tubes.slowly.she bit her lip as he gasped,as he clenched his fists.

"You're the one.you're the one who had been collecting the nox,aren't you?"he said between gasps.she closed her eyes.

".....yes."she softly murmured.she wondered when would he lose his mind.then he'll begin to appear on her nightmares,screaming at her,that it was all her fault,all her fault,she was evil itself-

"How nice.i had been curious,you see."

Her eyes snapped open.he smirked.she stumbled back as he effortlessly snapped the vita shackles binding him to the chair,and stood up.his wounds healed instantly.he flexed his hands,then plucked her strings out effortlessly.

Shit.she was doomed.

"All those vita ranting,and my precious noxidians disappearing."his words were silken,yet utterly dangerous."and you say you're the reason.well,have any more words to say,healer...lucia?"he advanced slowly.lucia gulped.this wasn't a normal noxidian.he was....something else.

"Who-who are you-?"she managed to ask.his lips curved.

"Who do you think i am?Death,of course."his eyes glimmered cruelly.

Oh.